Newly official presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke says the November election may be the 'best way' to determine President Trump's fate – a stance that softens his earlier call for impeachment to proceed.

The former House Democratic lawmaker told CBS interviewer Gail King on 'CBS This Morning' that the president may have obstructed justice and there may have been collusion with Russia.

But he nevertheless said the 'ballot box' may be the best place to settle the matter, days after Speaker Nancy Pelosi said impeachment was 'just not worth it,' speaking in an interview to air Friday.

He told the network: 'How Congress chooses to address those set of facts and the findings which I believe are soon to see from the Mueller report is up to them. I think the American people are going to have a chance to decide this at the ballot box in November 2020 and perhaps that's the best way for us to resolve these outstanding questions.'

O'Rourke said said the ballot box may be the 'best way' to resolve questions about Trump's campaign conduct and tenure as president

King began by asking O'Rourke if he still feels Trump should be impeached.

'It's beyond a shadow of a doubt to me that, if there was not collusion, there was at least the effort to collude with a foreign power, beyond the shadow of a doubt that if there was not obstruction of justice, there certainly was the effort to obstruct justice.'

'Whether that's firing [former FBI Director] James Comey, the principal investigator into what happened in the 2016 election, or in the light of day, tweeting to your Attorney General as President Trump did to end the Russia investigation,' he continued.

Share this article

Share

19 shares

O'Rourke announced his presidential run in a video along with his wife Amy

O'Rourke struck a dour tone in his first presidential campaign appearance, saying the world faces catastrophe and massive climate 'refugee' flows unless America fixes the planet (and did it with 'hand movement')

Donald Trump Mocked Beto O'Rourke's presidential campaign rollout on Thursday, saying he watched on TV and the Texan had 'a lot of hand movement' – and then moved his hands around

O'Rourke earlier had called for impeachment to go forward – akin to starting a trial process – although stopped short of saying Trump should be removed from office.

'There may be an open question as to whether the President, then the candidate, sought to collude with the Russian government in 2016," O'Rourke told CNN last October during his failed Senate run.

"There is enough there to proceed to a trial," he said. He said he "would not prejudge the outcome of that trial,' adding: ;All I am saying is, there's enough there.'

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have warned that impeachment is a wrenching political process that won't succeed without Republican buy-in.

Advertisement

Share or comment on this article:

Beto O'Rourke softens his impeachment stance by the election is the 'best way' to decide